CVE-2025-12985

HighLPE

Published: 20 January 2026

Published

20 January 2026

Modified

15 April 2026

KEV Added

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Patch

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CVSS Score 8.4 CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

EPSS Score 0.0002 5.2th percentile

Risk Priority 17 60% EPSS · 20% KEV · 20% CVSS

Summary

CVE-2025-12985 is a high-severity Incorrect Permission Assignment for Critical Resource (CWE-732) vulnerability in Ibm (inferred from references). Its CVSS base score is 8.4 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068); ranked at the 5.2th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified are NIST 800-53 AC-6 (Least Privilege) and CM-2 (Baseline Configuration).

Threat & Defense at a Glance

What attackers do: exploitation maps to Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068). What defenders deploy: see the NIST 800-53 controls recommended below.

Threat & Defense Details

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5)AI

AC-6 Least Privilege good match

prevent

Enforces least privilege on system resources, directly preventing incorrect assignment of excessive permissions to critical files that enable local root escalation in the container.

CM-6 Configuration Settings good match

prevent

Requires secure configuration settings for components like container images, ensuring critical files have appropriate permissions to mitigate privilege escalation vulnerabilities.

CM-2 Baseline Configuration good match

prevent

Maintains a secure baseline configuration under control for systems such as the IBM Licensing Operator, preventing deployment of images with misconfigured file privileges.

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI

T1068 Exploitation for Privilege Escalation Privilege Escalation

Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to elevate privileges.

attack.mitre.org →

Why these techniques?

CVE directly describes local root privilege escalation via incorrect permissions on critical files (CWE-732), matching Exploitation for Privilege Escalation.

Confidence: HIGH · MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise v18.1

NVD Description

IBM Licensing Operator incorrectly assigns privileges to security critical files which could allow a local root escalation inside a container running the IBM Licensing Operator image.

Deeper analysisAI

CVE-2025-12985, published on 2026-01-20, is a vulnerability in the IBM Licensing Operator that incorrectly assigns privileges to security critical files, enabling local root privilege escalation inside a container running the IBM Licensing Operator image. This issue is classified under CWE-732 (Incorrect Permission Assignment for Critical Resource) and carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 8.4 (AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H), reflecting high severity due to its potential for significant impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability.

The vulnerability can be exploited by a local attacker requiring no privileges (PR:N), low attack complexity (AC:L), and no user interaction (UI:N). Successful exploitation allows the attacker to escalate to root privileges within the container's scope (S:U), granting high-level control over the affected environment.

IBM provides details on mitigation in their advisory at https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/license-service-privilege-escalation-vulnerability.